But the motor vehicle commission announced late Saturday afternoon that those plans are now on hold due to "a court motion" filed by the state chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union. Further details were not disclosed.
Michael Horan, an MVC spokesman, said that he couldn't discuss specifics about the litigation but that a hearing on the matter was scheduled for Monday.

"We are deeply troubled by this last-minute effort to put the brakes on the TRU-ID program," Horan said. "This will be a big disruption to New Jersey drivers, and our intent is to have this program implemented as soon as possible. This will also affect some other related (program) changes we're planning, since everything is
basically intertwined with TRU-ID."

Under the new standards, residents could no longer state their Social Security number, but would have to show the card itself, a paystub or tax documents.

They also would have to show two proofs of residence, rather than the one that's currently required. And if a passport is used, it would have to be current.

DELAYING ANOTHER PROGRAM

Any delay in imposing the new standards in New Jersey will likely delay implementation of another recent MVC initiative known as Skip the Trip. Under that program, residents born on or before Dec. 1, 1964, with licenses or other IDs expiring in July or later would be able to renew their driver licenses or identification cards by mail.

The state says mail renewals for about 1 million customers 48 and older -- at least for the next several years -- will make it easier for New Jersey to make the move to a more stringent ID system required by federal law.

Residents born after Dec. 1, 1964, will be required to have a new ID by Dec. 1, 2014, under the federal law. Those who can renew by mail won't be required to have new IDs until the end of 2017.